EU Rights Clinic

EU Rights Clinic

The EU Rights Clinic is a not-for-profit service launched in January 2013 in collaboration with the University of Kent in Brussels. It helps EU citizens and their family members overcome problems they encounter when moving within the EU. The EU Rights Clinic:

Deals with key cases that illustrate shortcomings in EU policy and legislation or its enforcement in Europe. The grouping together of similar cases into a “super” complaint provides empirical evidence to advocate for changes in policy, the legislative framework or enforcement practices.

Encourages collective action across borders which might involve different interventions (litigation but also administrative and advocacy instruments) to be carried out in collaboration with national partners.

Develops a strong educational and voluntary component – it involves students enrolled in a course on EU Migration Law, PhD researchers and students as volunteers, as well as pro bono support from law firms.

As of 7 October 2017, the EU Rights Clinic has received requests for assistance from 605 individuals and 4 NGOs in 509 different cases. Out of these, 309 individualsand 4 NGOs (212 cases) have been provided with concrete advice and assistance concerning their EU rights.

The remaining 297 cases were requests for information or assistance falling outside the mandate of the Clinic. Requests for information were referred to Your Europe Advice and matters falling outside the mandate of the Clinic were signposted to legal aid organisations with relevant expertise.